Coming to the Tree
by MirroringShadows
Summary: 'Are you, are you coming to the tree...' The 'Hanging Tree' song, story form.
1. Murdered Three

**A/N: As soon as I read **_**The Hanging Tree**_** in **_**Mockingjay**_**, I was intrigued. I **_**had**_** to write something for it, so here it is: a version of the song that takes place before Katniss's arrival as the mockingjay. **

'_Are you, are you_

_Coming to the tree_

Where they hung the man they say murdered three

_Strange things did happen here_

_No stranger would it be_

_If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree'_

She almost screamed when she saw him in the branches, his feet dangling a few feet from the ground, a black bag over his face. Almost. But thankfully, she managed to choke it down, along with the tears. She wouldn't let them have the satisfaction of seeing her in pain. It was, after all, what they wanted.

She hadn't followed the rules, and she knew it. They had wanted Velvet to survive and it had looked like she would. But they had underestimated her. They had released the mutts to dispose of her, so that the District 1 favorite could win in peace. But somehow, using a crazy, last-minute plan that she'd managed to pull together, she'd used the mutts to destroy her opponent. And after a few minutes of savagery, it had been over. Winnow, skinny little District 11 girl, was the Victor and there was nothing the Gamemakers could do about it.

Or so she'd thought.

But now Emmer was hanging in the tree and she was fighting back wave after wave of despair. There was no way you could disrupt the Games and skip away happily. She'd just never realized how much pain they'd lay on you before this.

She'd only let herself go when she was safely tucked away in the Victor's village. "What did he do?" she muttered, her face buried in Hull's shoulder, "He didn't do anything, did he?"

Her brother patted her awkwardly on the back. "They say he murdered three Peacekeepers," he confessed.

She pulled away, her face a picture of complete horror. "_What!_"

"That's what they _say_," Hull corrected himself, "And we haven't seen Farrus, Helios or Elize since, but..." - he lowered his voice, as if there was actually someone in the village to overhear him – "I don't believe it, and I don't think anyone else does either."

The tears were gone now, replaced by cold fury. "So he was murdered because of me?" she whispered, her chest constricting, "Because I didn't do _exactly_ as those fat, stuck-up Gamemakers wanted?" There were much worse names swirling through her head, but she didn't say them.

Nobody approached her after that, except Hull, to bring her a dinner she didn't eat. She only moved out of her new room when the rest of the District was asleep. She snuck out, to the tree, where Emmer swayed in the breeze. For a while, she just stood there, staring, feeling nothing but emptiness. _This is the person I once loved_, whispered a voice in her head, but it didn't feel like it. It felt like she was staring at someone completely different.

She went back to the new house, eventually. Everything felt too clean, too bright, too rich. She pondered going to Hull's room for a second, but brushed the thought away. There was only one person she really wanted by her side, but he was gone.


	2. Call to Flee

'_Are you, are you_

_Coming to the tree_

Where the dead man called out for his love to flee

_Strange things did happen here_

_No stranger would it be_

_If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree'_

When the wind blew her shawl away, she didn't go after it. It felt uncomfortable around her anyway. She wasn't used to the artificial softness the Capitol created. She hugged her arms and rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet, her eyes wide and staring. Every time she came back to the tree, the pain felt new.

She had sudden, absurd urge to untie Emmer and pull of the black bag covering his head. She wanted to see his face again. The last time she'd seen it was when he'd come to say goodbye before the Games. It had been brief and abrupt. He'd stayed a few feet away and simply stared at her with his dark ambery eyes for a while. "I know I'll see you again," he'd finally said after a silence that had seemed to last forever. And that had been all.

_I came back, Emmer, _she thought, a shudder arching through her body, _I survived. If only you had too..._

A sudden, violent gust of wind made her stumble and whipped Emmer's body through the air. She steadied and braced herself against the cold. The corpse in the tree still whirled around. It almost looked like it was panicking, screaming to her...

She felt a chill run down her spine and turned around to get her shawl. Instead, she was met by two figures, silhouettes in the night. One of them called something to her, something that sounded threatening, and she realized who they were: Peacekeepers. She sucked in a breath. She wasn't _really_ doing anything wrong, but in District 11, the smallest step out of orthodox could get you a bullet through the head. In a single, fluid movement, she grabbed the shawl and sprinted away. She made sure to run in a crazy, haphazardous path, in case the Peacekeepers were following her. She only turned towards the village when she was sure she wasn't being chased. Panting, she slipped through the door and tiptoed up to her room – she didn't want to disturb Hull.

She knew she wouldn't be able to sleep, so she decided to take a shower and in the warm, scented water, she let herself relax. Not fully, but enough. After the Games, complete relaxation wasn't a possibility.

She closed her eyes to the torrent of droplets falling on to her body and went back to the tree and Emmer. _One more thing I owe him for_, she thought, unexpected sorrow welling up inside her, _One more thing I can't pay back_.


	3. Both Be Free

'_Are you, are you_

_Coming to the tree_

Where I told you to run, so we'd both be free

_Strange things did happen here_

_No stranger would it be_

_If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree'_

She didn't risk going back to the tree after almost being caught, but that didn't mean she forgot. In fact, it just made her remember more.

She remembered the day before the reaping, when she and Emmer had been together in the orchard, having murmured conversations together. "If I'm chosen, I'll never be able to survive," she'd confessed. Which just went to show how much even _she_ had underestimated herself. "You'd be fine," Emmer had brushed away her worries. He'd always seen the best in her. "Anyway, look at the bright side. This is our last year! After this, it's all over." All the same, she'd been terrified that night, worrying over whether it would be him who was chosen. Emmer had two siblings and every year, all of them applied for tessera. Emmer's name was up for District 11 tribute more times than she would have liked.

She'd pointed this out to him on the morning before the reaping. "I...I couldn't...I mean, I don't think I could live with it if you...died," she'd stammered. Expressing emotions had always embarrassed her. "Then don't," Emmer had replied, taking her by surprise, "Don't live with it. If I am a tribute and if I do die, die with me." She'd stared at him, not knowing what to say.

"What do you mean?"  
He'd lowered his voice to a whisper now as crowds surged past them to the reaping. "This District is the last place I would want anyone to be. Die with me. We'll both be free." Then he'd hurried off, before she could say anything.

Well, he _was_ dead now. She'd never see him again, not properly. She'd never hear him say her name in that way of his, like he was releasing some special secret into the wind.

"_Winnow."_

She buried her face in her pillow, trying to get the sound out of her head.

"_Winnow."_

She couldn't stand it anymore, she couldn't _stand_ it.

"_Winnow, come."_

She didn't want to come.

"_Winnow, I'm waiting, please."_

She didn't want to come.

"_Winnow, _please_."  
_He wanted her to come.

"_Winnow."_

She got up, took a shaky breath, rearranged her mussed-up bed. She couldn't say no. She could never say no to him.

So she went.


	4. With Me

'_Are you, are you_

_Coming to the tree_

Wear a necklace of rope, side by side with me

_Strange things did happen here_

_No stranger would it be_

_If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree'_

Hull wondered why he wasn't surprised. Maybe it was because Winnow had been acting strange for a long time already. Maybe it was because he'd never underestimated the effect the Games had on Victors. Maybe it was because he'd known first hand how much his sister had loved him.

So while the rest of the District gasped and murmured, he stayed quiet and simply stared at the two figures hanging side by side in the tree.

He only wished he'd had time to say goodbye.


End file.
